August 25, 2015

Tea Review - Wymm Tea Sheng Pu-erh - 2014 Mangnuo Tengtiao

The 2014 Mangnuo Tengtiao is a beautiful tea. And the leaves kept delivering delicious bowls of liquor. I used water that had been boiled then cooled. The first infusion was 30 seconds and I added 10 seconds for each subsequent steep.

The color of the liquor progressed from a pale green to a deep yellow, even darker than the liquor pictured on the right, then gradually lightening to a pale yellow.

And what of the flavors?

The first infusion yielded a light green color and a licorice finish. The second infusion dry like minerals and rocks and sweet like cassis. The liquor was noticeably darker at the third infusion. The flavors were more intense and raisin was a dominant flavor. I thought, "Boom!" after sipping the liquor from the fourth infusion. The astringency kicked in; there was a lot of fruit flavors including a bitter note like a grapefruit peel. The fifth infusion produced a dry liquor with apricot and stone fruit, raisin, and grapefruit flavors. The liquor smelled a temperate rainforest or a wet woodland. By the sixth infusion, the liquor had begun to lighten in color. The dominant notes became wood and raisin. I would definitely drink more of this pu-erh!

2 comments
:

This was definitely one of my favorite teas that I've tried from them. I thought it was interesting that the tea trees are shaped using a technique that removes all excess branches and larger leaves, leaving just two buds on each branch. I can only imagine how much work it must take just to harvest enough for a single cake!